eucatastrophe n. eucatastrophic [ < Gr. eu, "good" and catastrophe Coined by JRR Tolkien.] 1. (in a narrative) The event that shifts the balance in favor of the protagonist when all seems lost. 2. A happy ending.

07/29/2018

"Bring back the folk"

American Folk REVIEW

I am glad I did not listen to Roger Ebert on this one. This is such a lovely movie about how life can bring you into connection with strangers if you will be open to it. A young man and a young woman sit on a plane with a seat between them. He stares out the window listening to music through his headset, oblivious of her. In a moment of social audacity, she plugs her own earphones into his device so as to listen to his music along with him. Music provides a connection when mixed with a little fearlessness. The secret I guess is not to ask. This is the opening connection that leads to several dozen more connections over the course of the film (many of them are the result of shared music while others are the result of a series of mechanical failures in their van). When you are watching the closing credits, you find yourself reveling in all the adventures they had and the people they met and how each new person they connect with was like a new experiential child or grandchild of that single moment of “social risk” in the plane.

Question for Comment: How open are you to meeting strangers? Are you ever or always the initiator in these connections? Why or why not?